JPH11155998A - Symbol-variable display game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make conspicuous a symbol by uniformly applying the light from a reel illuminating apparatus onto the outer periphery of a reel. SOLUTION: A front panel 11 provided with symbol indicating windows 20a, 20b, 20c is disposed in front of reel 8a, 8b, 8c, on each peripheral surface of which symbols of various kinds are shown. On the rear surface of the panel 11, a reel illuminating apparatus to illuminate the outer periphery of each of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c is provided at least at a boundary position of adjoining symbol indicating windows in the direction normal to the direction in which the reels are arranged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slot machine for rotating a plurality of reels each having a plurality of types of symbols on an outer peripheral surface thereof and displaying the symbols on the reel peripheral surface so as to be visible from the outside. Such a variable symbol display game machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a conventional slot machine, three symbol display windows are provided in parallel on a front panel on the front. Inside the machine, three reels are arranged in parallel behind each symbol display window. Each reel is individually rotatable, and when the reel is stopped, three symbols on the outer peripheral surface of the reel can be visually recognized from the symbol display window.

The symbols are drawn by silk-screen printing on the surface of a belt-like sheet material adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the reel frame, and are composed of numerals, patterns, and the like. A reel illuminating device such as an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp is provided inside the symbol display window, whereby the outer peripheral surface of the reel is illuminated.

As shown in FIG. 15, a light source 103 such as an incandescent light bulb or a fluorescent lamp is provided inside a symbol display window 102 of a front panel 101, and the light from the light source 103 is provided. Is irradiated on the outer peripheral surface of the reel 104 obliquely from above to make the symbol clear.

As shown in FIG. 16, a light source 103 such as a fluorescent lamp is provided inside a reel 104,
In some cases, the light from the light emitting device 03 is radiated from the inside to the inner peripheral surface of the reel 104 so that the symbol is specified.

[0006]

However, FIG.
When the light source 103 illuminates the outer peripheral surface of the reel 104 obliquely from above, the symbol at the upper position on the outer peripheral surface of the reel 104 looks bright and clear, and the symbol at the lower position is Distant, the symbol appears darker than the symbol at the upper position, and an upper and lower level difference occurs on the outer peripheral surface of the reel 104.

[0007] When the reel 104 rotates, the player stares at the moving symbol and tries to stop the desired symbol. However, at the lower position, the symbol is difficult to see clearly, so the player aims at the desired symbol. It is difficult to stop the game and the fun of the game is halved. If there is a light and dark step,
The eyes are easily tired, and it is difficult to continue the game for a long time.

[0008] As shown in the example of FIG.
When illuminating from inside 04, the illumination is useless, and an extra amount of light is needed to clearly show the symbols. For this reason, if a high-output light source is used as the light source 103 or the light source 103 is brought closer to the reel 104,
The reel may be heated and deformed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is capable of uniformly illuminating the outer peripheral surface of a reel without requiring an extra amount of light, thereby improving symbol visibility. The purpose is to provide.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a plurality of reels having a plurality of types of symbols on the outer peripheral surface are arranged side by side, and the outer peripheral surface of each reel is visually recognized from the outside in front of the reel. In a variable symbol display game machine having a front panel provided with a possible symbol display window, a rear surface of the front panel has a direction orthogonal to a direction in which reels are arranged at least at a boundary position between adjacent symbol display windows. , A reel illuminating device for illuminating the peripheral surface of each reel is provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the reel lighting device includes a linear light source such as a fluorescent lamp.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the reel lighting device includes a plurality of point light sources such as light emitting diodes.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a reflector is provided between the front panel and the reel lighting device to reflect light emitted from the reel lighting device toward the reel.

[0014]

When the outer peripheral surface of the reel is illuminated by the reel illuminator, the light is uniformly applied to the outer peripheral surface of the reel because the reel illuminator is disposed in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the reels are arranged.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the reel illuminating device is constituted by a linear light source such as a fluorescent lamp, a preferable amount of illuminating light is provided by a small number of light sources.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the reel illuminating device is composed of a plurality of point light sources such as light emitting diodes, the illumination state of the outer peripheral surface of the reel is changed by changing the light quantity of each point light source. Can be adjusted optimally.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the reflector is provided between the front panel and the reel lighting device, the light from the reel lighting device travels to the outer peripheral surface of the reel without waste.

[0018]

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a slot machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. Airframe 1 of this slot machine
A door 3 is attached to the front opening of the box-shaped main body 2 so as to be openable and closable. In the hollow interior of the main body 2, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a circuit board 5 such as a reel block 4 and a control circuit is incorporated in an upper position, and a medal discharger 6 having a hopper 6a for accommodating a large number of medals is incorporated in a lower position.

The reel block 4 comprises a metal frame 7
, Three reels 8a, 8b, 8c are integrally assembled. On the outer peripheral surface of each reel 8a, 8b, 8c, a symbol,
A plurality of types of symbols, such as letters and numbers, are represented, and some of the symbols constitute symbols for establishing a winning (hereinafter, referred to as “winning symbols”). Each of the reels 8a, 8b,
Stepping motors 9a and 9 for individually driving the rotation of the motor 8c
b, 9c are assembled, and each reel 8a, 8b, 8c
Together with the variable symbol display device 10.

The front surface of the door 3 is provided with reels 8a, 8
It comprises a central front panel 11 for variably displaying the symbols b and 8c, and an upper panel 12 and a lower panel 13 for displaying model names and game information. Each of the panels 11, 12, 13 is formed by performing silk screen printing on the surface of a transparent synthetic resin plate or tempered glass. Below the front panel 11, a start lever 14, three stop button switches 15a, 15b, 15c, a medal slot 16 and the like are provided. Below the lower panel 13, a medal discharge port 17 and a medal tray 18 are provided. Each is deployed.

At the center of the front panel 11, three non-colored and transparent symbol display windows 20a, 20b and 20c surrounded by a color print layer 11A (shown in FIG. 6) are juxtaposed. The respective reels 8a, 8b, 8c of the reel block 4 are located behind the respective symbol display windows 20a, 20b, 20c. When the reel is stopped, the symbols on the outer peripheral surface of the reel can be visually recognized by three frames. Is formed.

As shown in FIG. 3, a total of five stop lines L1 including upper, middle, lower and oblique lines are provided on the surface of the front panel 11 so as to cross the symbol display windows 20a, 20b and 20c.
When the reels are stopped, the symbols of the respective reels 8a, 8b, 8c are arranged on these stop lines L1 to L5. If the number of medals inserted into the medal slot 16 is one, only one central stop line L1 is two, and if the number is two, the stop lines L1 to L5 are upper and lower.
If the three middle and lower stop lines L1 to L3 are three, all five stop lines L1 to L5 are activated respectively.

In the slot machine having the above structure, when a medal is inserted from the medal insertion slot 16, a number of stop lines corresponding to the number of inserted medals are activated. Next, when the starting lever 14 is operated, the three reels 8a, 8b, 8c
Starts all at once. After this, the stop button switches 15a, 15
Each time b, 15c is operated, the corresponding reel 8a, 8
b, 8c stop. At this time, when a predetermined combination of symbols is established on the activated stop line, a winning is achieved, and a predetermined number of medals are discharged from the medal discharge port 17 to the medal tray 18 by the operation of the medal payout machine 6.

Inside the front panel 11, as shown in FIG. 4, a wiring case 22 having a rectangular front shape and having an opening 21 surrounding the outer periphery of the symbol display windows 20a, 20b, 20c is located. The wiring case 22 is fixed to the back surface of the front panel 11 by screws (not shown) or the like.

The wiring case 22 has a symbol display window 20.
a, 20b, and 20c, two fluorescent lamps 24, 24 for illuminating the outer peripheral surface of each of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c are arranged corresponding to the boundary positions of the adjacent symbol display windows. The lighting device 23 is configured.

As shown in FIG. 3, the fluorescent lamps 24, 24 are vertically oriented along a direction (vertical direction) perpendicular to the direction in which the reels 8a, 8b, 8c are arranged (horizontal direction). Deployed in the opening plane. Each reel 8a,
If the direction in which 8b and 8c are lined up is the vertical direction, each fluorescent lamp 2
4 and 24 are provided sideways so as to be along the left-right direction.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, between the front panel 11 and each of the fluorescent lamps 24, 24, the light of the fluorescent lamp 24 is reflected in the direction of each of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c. Reflector plates 25, 25 each having a substantially V-shaped planar shape are arranged and held by the wiring case 22, respectively.

Further, between the adjacent reels, there are provided reflectors 26, 26 each having a convex curved reflection surface, and are supported by the metal frame 7. Further, the reflection surfaces are concave curved surfaces on both sides of the reels. Reflectors 27, 27 are disposed inward,
It is supported by a metal frame 7.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 28 denotes the wiring case 22.
Is a stop lamp mounting portion provided at the lower portion of the rear surface of the wiring case 22, and 29 is another lamp mounting portion provided at one side of the rear surface of the wiring case 22.

After the power is turned on, the two fluorescent lamps 24, 24 are always turned on to illuminate the outer peripheral surfaces of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c. Each of the fluorescent lamps 24, 24 has a reel 8a, 8b, 8c.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 6,
Since the fluorescent lamps 24 are provided vertically, the light from the fluorescent lamps 24 illuminates the upper and lower portions of the outer peripheral surfaces of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c equally, so that there is no vertical difference in brightness.

Since each of the fluorescent lamps 24, 24 is provided corresponding to each boundary position of the adjacent reel display windows 20a, 20b, 20c, the fluorescent lamps 2 are externally provided.
4 and 24 are not seen, and the space between the front panel 11 and the reel block 4 is effectively used.

Further, as shown in this example, the reflection plate 2
5, 26, 27, each fluorescent lamp 24, 2
The light from 4 can be effectively used for lighting the reels 8a, 8b, 8c. In this case, if a fluorescent agent or a fluorescent agent is applied to the reflecting surfaces of the reflecting plates 26 and 27, each fluorescent lamp 24,
The light from 24 causes the reflecting surfaces of the reflecting plates 26 and 27 to emit light, thereby improving the lighting effect.

FIG. 7 shows a reel lighting device 23 in which fluorescent lamps 24, 24 are additionally provided at the left and right end positions of the wiring case 22 in addition to the two fluorescent lamps 24, 24 described above. Sufficient lighting can be applied to the entire area of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c.

As shown in FIG. 8, a fluorescent lamp 31 may be arranged horizontally on the upper surface of the wiring case 22 to constitute a reel lighting device 23 together with the fluorescent lamps 24, 24 oriented vertically. . In this case, if the emission colors of the fluorescent lamps 24 and 31 are made different, multicolor illumination can be applied to the outer peripheral surfaces of the reels 8a, 8b and 8c.

FIG. 9 shows that the two fluorescent lamps 24 are positioned at the positions of the two fluorescent lamps 24 instead of the fluorescent lamp 24.
Are mounted vertically, and together with the fluorescent lamp 31 mounted horizontally on the upper surface of the wiring case 22, the reel lighting device 23 is configured.

The embodiment of FIG. 9 is effective for a slot machine using a reel in which a specific symbol is drawn with an ultraviolet light emitting paint, and the ultraviolet light from each of the ultraviolet light emitting lamps 41 is drawn with the ultraviolet light emitting paint. When the symbol is radiated to the symbol, the symbol absorbs ultraviolet light and emits color in the color of the fluorescent ink, for example, red. As shown in FIG. 10, each of the ultraviolet radiation lamps 41, 41
Since the outer surfaces of the reels 8a, 8b, and 8c are uniformly irradiated with ultraviolet rays, there is no uneven light emission of the symbol depending on the position because the outer surfaces of the reels 8a, 8b, and 8c are provided along the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the b and 8c are arranged.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which two fluorescent lamps 24 are used instead of one fluorescent lamp 24.
An embodiment using a U-shaped cold cathode fluorescent lamp 51 of a book will be described. Since the cold cathode fluorescent lamp 51 has a U-shape, the rising portions 51a and 51b are arranged so as to correspond to the boundary positions of the respective symbol display windows. In addition, an electrodeless fluorescent lamp or the like can be used instead of the cold cathode fluorescent lamp 51. In the case of the electrodeless fluorescent lamp, the electrodes are provided only at one end of the tube, so that the wiring is simple.

FIG. 12 shows side-emitting optical fibers 61 corresponding to the boundary positions of adjacent symbol display windows.
Are attached to the wiring case 22 along a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the reels 8a, 8b, 8c are arranged.
Since the side emission type optical fiber 61 generates less heat than the fluorescent lamp 24 or the like, it is effective for energy saving. This optical fiber 61 extends along the outer peripheral surface of the reel,
Since they can be arranged to be curved in an arc shape, more uniform illumination is possible. Note that an EL fiber can be used instead of the optical fiber 61.

In each of the above embodiments, a linear light source such as a fluorescent lamp is used as the light source of the reel lighting device.
As shown in FIG. 13, the reel lighting device 71 can also be configured by using a plurality of point light sources such as light emitting diodes. The reel illuminating device 71 shown in FIG. 6 includes a plurality of point light sources 72 linearly arranged at the boundary positions of the adjacent symbol display windows 20a, 20b, 20c and at positions outside the left and right symbol display windows 20a, 20c. Are arranged in a line. Each point light source 72 has a corresponding one of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c.
Are arranged in the vertical direction orthogonal to the direction in which the. As the point light source 72, an incandescent light bulb may be used instead of the light emitting diode.

In this embodiment, the light quantity of each point light source 72 can be changed to adjust the state of illumination on the outer peripheral surface of each of the reels 8a, 8b, 8c. Thus, the display state of the symbol can be changed. It is also possible to use a combination of a plurality of point light sources 72 and a linear light source such as the fluorescent lamp 24 and the ultraviolet radiation lamp 41.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, the illumination is applied to the outer peripheral surface of each reel along the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the reels are arranged, at least at the boundary of the symbol display window adjacent to the rear surface of the front panel. Since the reel illuminating device for performing the illumination is provided, it is possible to illuminate the outer peripheral surface of the reel uniformly without a vertical difference in brightness. As a result, the player's eyes are not tired, and the symbols on the reels are clearly visible, so that the player can easily aim at the desired symbols when the reels are rotated, and the player can play the game comfortably.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the reel illuminating device is constituted by a linear light source such as a fluorescent lamp, a preferable illumination light amount can be given by a small number of light sources.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the reel illuminating device comprises a plurality of point light sources such as light emitting diodes, the amount of light emitted from each point light source is changed to optimally adjust the illumination state of the outer peripheral surface of the reel. it can.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the reflector for reflecting the light from the reel illuminating device in the direction of the reel is provided between the front panel and the reel illuminating device, the light from the reel illuminating device can be efficiently used around the reel. It can be used for surface lighting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a slot machine in which the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an internal configuration of a main body of the slot machine.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a front panel having a symbol display window.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a configuration of a reel lighting device.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the reel lighting device of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an illumination state.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing an example of additional fluorescent lamps.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing another embodiment of the reel lighting device.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing another embodiment using an ultraviolet radiation lamp.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing an illumination state according to the embodiment of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a front view showing another embodiment using a cold cathode fluorescent lamp.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing another embodiment using an optical fiber.

FIG. 13 is a front view showing another embodiment of the reel lighting device. .

FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a conventional reel lighting device.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing another configuration of a conventional reel lighting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8a, 8b, 8c Reel 10 Symbol variable display device 11 Front panel 20a, 20b, 20c Symbol display window 23, 71 Reel lighting device 24, 41, 51, 61 Linear light source 25 Reflector 72 Point light source

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of reels each having a plurality of types of symbols on its outer peripheral surface are arranged side by side.
In a symbol variable display game machine having a front panel provided with a symbol display window in which the outer peripheral surface of each reel can be visually recognized from the outside, the back of the front panel has at least a boundary position between adjacent symbol display windows. A variable symbol display game machine provided with a reel illuminating device for illuminating the peripheral surface of each reel along a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the reels are lined up. 2. The variable symbol display game machine according to claim 1, wherein the reel lighting device is configured with a linear light source such as a fluorescent lamp. 3. The reel lighting device according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of point light sources such as light emitting diodes.
Symbol variable display game machine described in. 4. A variable symbol display game according to claim 1, further comprising a reflector between said front panel and said reel illuminating device for reflecting light emitted by said reel illuminating device toward the reel. Machine.